Sunday Worship Service November 17, 2024
Prelude
Call to Worship Isaiah 46:10
Hymn JBC # 105 There is sunshine in my soul today
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 236 What can wash away my sin?
Testimony
Offering
Scripture John 19:28～30
Prayer
Sermon “It is finished”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 379 We've a story to tell the nations
Doxology JBC # 676
Benediction
Postlude
All of us will eventually reach our final moment, the time of death. How should we face the inevitable death that will eventually come?
I believe that facing our own death leads us to seriously consider “how to live now” and “how to make the most of this life that has been given to us and how to live our lives”.
I once had a time of learning with an elderly couple of our church about the end of life.
That is because they themselves had wished that not just what they wanted to do about funerals, graves, and remains (ashes) after death, but they wanted to learn what the Bible says about those things and how they should think and prepare about their own funerals and remains based on their faith.
I think our sessions took place a couple of times when I visited the couple, and we read the Bible together and we thought together about preparing for death, funerals, and remains.
It was a very good time for me to rethink how to prepare for death in light of our faith.
To think about death is to think about life. And when we think about our lives, I think that we often wonder ``What was I born for?'' and ``What is the purpose of life?''
Don’t we wish somewhere in our mind that we want to “accomplish something” in our lives. Even if we don't think it as “accomplish”, at the end of our lives, don’t we wish to be able to say “at least my life had some meaning.”
Today we would like to think about what we really should do with our lives, based on Jesus' appearance on the cross and his last words at that time.
Let me read the verse 28.
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”
On the cross, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” And by Jesus’ saying “I am thirsty” it is written “so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”
These “Scripture” are the words of Psalm 22:14-15 (15~16 in Japanese Bible).
Psalm 22:14~15
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd (*a shard of pottery).
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
John, the author of the Gospel of John, interpreted that the Lord went through the suffering of “thirst” was that the Lord God Himself was facing, through Jesus, the suffering and agony as described in the Bible.
According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus cried out in a loud voice on the cross, “Eloi, Eloi, lema, sabachthani” (meaning My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?).
Those were also the opening words of Psalm 22. Therefore, Jesus himself was thinking of the words of this Psalm on the cross as he was dying.
Jesus found the meaning of his mission and suffering given to him in the words of the Bible. the words in the Psalm, and he drew strength from the words of the Bible.
We, too, can find the meaning and significance of our lives in the words of the Bible. In this way, we can receive the power to live from the words of the Bible.
There would be times of suffering in our lives as described in the Psalm. But at the same time, as in Psalm 23, "I will fear no evil when I go through the valley of the shadow of death. You are with me." Like this we also receive the Word of God, which is truly our hope and strength.
So, we want to always be familiar with the words of the Bible, which sustain us, give us strength, and guide us in times of trouble.
And what is the meaning that Jesus said “I am thirsty”? It is God's “thirst” to save us all human. It means that “the Lord has given us everything”.
The Lord God has given us human beings everything we need for our salvation, so much so that the Lord has nothing else to give, nothing to spare. He gave us all through Jesus.
Jesus said in John 7:37, “Whoever is thirsty, come to me and drink. Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.
That is if we believe in Jesus, we will receive living water that never decays, flowing from within us like rivers.
But for this to happen, the Lord Himself had to experience the suffering of total “thirst” on the cross.
Jesus Himself, who said, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink” was thoroughly thirsty on the cross.
The Lord Himself, more than anyone else, experienced the suffering of the thirsty. He did this so that we might be healed and filled (fulfilled).
Seeing that figure of Jesus, what are we encouraged to do? We cannot give everything in the way Jesus did.
But we can try to live a little like the Lord Jesus Christ who said, “I an thirsty” and continued to give all that he had until the end.
We, too, can try to live a life of “giving” like Jesus. Let us look up to the Lord who said, “I am thirsty” and gave His life for us.
We, too, should be aware of the needs of others, and if there is anything we can do to help, we should “give” as much as we can.
I will read the verse 29 to 30.
29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
In the last part, it says, “he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” . The Greek words for “gave up his spirit” is “entrusted his spirit” or “surrendered his spirit”.
Lord Jesus entrusted his spirit with God the Father in heaven. This is a figure of “complete obedience to God the Father” and “complete trust in God the Father”.
The people there offered Jesus on the cross “wine vinegar soaked in a sponge”. This wine would have quenched Jesus' thirst, even if only for a moment.
It is also said that the wine may have had an “anesthetic (kill the pain)” effect, relieving physical pain.
Jesus accepted the wine that was offered to him. Jesus Christ, who is God, does not need the help from people.
After giving all that He had for others and after saying, “I am thirsty,” He accepted the wine that was offered to Him who was suffering, as if God were receiving mercy from people.
And so, Jesus said, all that needed to be accomplished was “accomplished” there.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said, when he sent his disciples, “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is my disciple, he will surely receive his reward.”
On the cross, Jesus himself truly became “one of the little ones” and accepted the wine offered by the people.
We humans have pride. Often, it is our pride that sustains us.
We like to think that we are “living on our own,” and we don't want to be dependent on others as much as possible. (I think I have a strong tendency of that).
we can get rid of or overcome this pride, many of the relationship problems among us will be solved and we will be able to respect others as better than ourselves, as the Bible says.
And I believe we will be able to gratefully receive the help offered to us by others.
Jesus Christ, the Lord God, accepted the wine offered to Him from people in the midst of His extreme suffering. Therefore, let us also extend to one another even the smallest help.
When we suffer, when we need help, let us gratefully receive the help offered by others.
The figure of Jesus teaches us that we can and should live by the help of others. In this way we are made alive together.
We may sometimes look back at the past and at our present selves and wonder, “What was and is my life all about?”
But if we look up to Jesus Christ on the cross, we do not feel as if something is missing, nor do we feel rushed (dissatisfied), thinking, “Don't I need to do more?”
Because the Bible tells us that the Lord “has done everything, accomplished everything” for us on the cross.
All we have to do is look up to the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and know and thank Him for the grace He has given us.
And we are to share this grace with others, confess our faith in our own lives and words, and put our faith into practice in the way we live.
And we are to support others and be supported by others at the same time. We are not to live in a one-way relationship where we are the only giver, but in a relationship where everyone supports each other.
Let us give and receive (be supported), and let us follow the example of Jesus Christ on the cross, and let us live together in the days of the new week, thankful and hopeful that all that is necessary for us has already been “accomplished” by the Lord.
Saturday, November 9, 2024
Sunday Worship Service November 10, 2024
Prelude
Call to Worship
Hymn JBC # 618
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC #236
Offering
Scripture Luke 9:18～27
Prayer
Sermon “Prediction of Death and Resurrection”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 230
Doxology JBC # 676
Benediction
Postlude
I think it is a common belief among non-Christians that “Jesus Christ” is one of the greatest historical figures, or one of the most influential figures in history.
As such, Jesus Christ is generally considered to be only one of the great human beings. Jesus was one of the great human beings who taught people to love their neighbors (and practiced it himself) and healed many people of their illnesses.
In today's scripture passage, Jesus asked the disciples who were with him: “Who do the crowds say I am?”
The disciples replied. Some say “John the Baptist”; others say “Elijah”; and still others, “that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
John the Baptist was the one who also baptized Jesus. He was a then great religious leader who strongly encouraged people to turn to God (repent).
Elijah was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament era. Prophets were those who were entrusted with the word of God and were responsible for conveying it to the people.
“that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life”means that there were people who were saying “This man Jesus is doing such wonderful works that he must be a great prophet of old come back to life.
To be precise, "come back to life" would mean that he is like the second coming of such a great prophet.
I don't think the people who said it actually believed that the prophets who had died hundreds of years before Jesus actually came back to life.
But John the Baptist, as well as Elijah and other great prophets, they all were only human. They were not gods.
Like the general idea today, many people in Jesus' time too still thought that the man Jesus was great, but Jesus was only one man.
Then Jesus asked his disciples as follows.
“Who do you say I am?”(verse 20)
“I now know that people are saying things about me. So people are saying that I am one of the great but human beings. Then who do you say I am?” Jesus asked.
To this question, Peter answered. “God’s Messiah”. Messiah originally means ‘anointed (oil-poured) one’in Hebrew.
It is said to have originated from the special perfume oil that was poured on kings and priests in Israel when they were inaugurated, and eventually came to mean “God's savior”.
In New Testament times, that era in which Jesus lived, it was believed that the Messiah (God's Savior) who would soon come would deliver the people of Israel from the Roman Empire that ruled over them.
Thus, in Jesus' time, people were looking forward to the coming of the Savior as a political liberator (military leader).
When Peter replied, “You are the God’s Messiah,” Jesus admonished the disciples, commanding them not to tell anyone about it (v. 21).
Why did Jesus stop his disciples from making such a confession, confessing that “Jesus is the Messiah”?
Messiah was eventually translated into Greek as Christ, giving birth to the words of confession of faith, “Jesus Christ,” meaning “Jesus is the Christ (Savior).
The content of the saying “You are God’s Messiah” was not wrong. It was true. Jesus was without a doubt the true Messiah (Savior) sent from God.
However, in response to Peter's confession, Jesus commanded his disciples, “Do not tell anyone about it. Why?
This is because Peter and the other disciples did not yet understand what “Messiah” really meant and what Jesus was going to accomplish.
The disciples were expecting a great Messiah who would reestablish the nation of Israel and free their nation from the Roman Empire.
But Jesus did not come to be such a Messiah; in verse 22, Jesus said
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Jesus spoke of what was about to befall Him, of being rejected by the people, of being killed on the cross, and then of His resurrection on the third day.
Jesus foretold His death and resurrection by saying that Christ would first be rejected by the people and killed, and then rise again.
Jesus said that He is the Messiah who truly liberates people (frees them from sin) in the sense that He, who is equal to God, saves people by offering His life.
Jesus was the Messiah as the One who leads people to true liberation through such a death, where he wholly takes the hatred, malice, and ridicule of people by himself, and then is killed in an unjust trial by men.
To truly liberate a person, Jesus said, he must first die.
Jesus foretold His death and resurrection in advance so that His disciples would be able to face the reality of the event when it actually occurred.
Who do we now confess Jesus Christ is? If Jesus asked you now “Who do you say I am?”, who would we answer?
Are we not believing in and confessing Christ based on the image of the Savior that we have willfully imagined and created for ourselves?
We always want to listen to the Bible and be led by the Holy Spirit to understand Jesus Christ as the Bible tells us He is, in His proper form.
We, too, wish to confess our faith, “You are God’s Messiah (Christ, the Savior).”
Let us believe that with all our hearts, and let us believe and rejoice that “this One has saved us from our deepest sins,” and let us continue to confess as such.
Jesus also went on to say: read verses 23-25.
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
Jesus says to his disciples, and to us believers throughout the ages and now, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
What does it mean to “deny yourselves and take up your cross daily”? The word “cross” is usually thought of as a “burden” that each of us bears.
However, I believe that some of you have already carried enough “burdens” and are living under very hard and difficult circumstances.
All of us carry burdens in our lives. Does Jesus tell us to carry an even heavier burden, a cross in that sense, in order to follow Him?
To me, it seems very unlikely. When Jesus said, “take up your cross daily and follow me,” I think he meant that we should first know that Jesus first carried the heaviest cross for us.
That Jesus is walking with us even now. Therefore, I believe that Jesus is calling us to entrust the burdens of life given to each of us to Him and ask Him to carry them with us as we walk and live.
It is possible through faith to walk with Jesus, trusting in Him who is with us day by day (every day). Let us be convinced again today of the blessedness of living in Jesus' love and mercy.
Let’s listen to what Jesus said in verse 24 once more.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
We must understand what Jesus meant by these words, not literally but what it truly means. It does not mean that we would give our lives for Jesus.
Jesus does not need to be offered a life from us. Rather, Jesus laid down His life for the atonement of our sins.
When Jesus said, “lose your life for my sake,” he meant that we place Jesus at the center of our purpose in life.
It means that we do not put our own wishes and thoughts first, but live daily with the purpose of living God's will as revealed through Jesus.
We feel unsatisfied and dissatisfied when things do not go the way we wish or envision. We may even think that “my life has failed” when things do not turn out the way we hoped they would.
But if we place the purpose of our life in Jesus and turn our direction of life to Jesus Christ, then we will live true life.
By placing Christ in the center of our hearts and changing our direction to a life lived toward Him, our self-centeredness instead of God-centeredness will be corrected, and our lives will truly be saved.
We can receive true life by being freed (saved) from the sin of self-centeredness and the misery caused by that sin and redirected to a God-centered life filled with firmness and peace.
To receive such true life, let us live daily according to Christ, confessing Him as our Savior by both word and life.
Jesus bore the heaviest burden, the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and died on that cross. Let us remember this daily and offer our hearts of gratitude and repentance to God.
Jesus is with us, bearing the burdens of our lives. With eyes of faith, let us recognize Jesus' presence with us, and let us walk in days of hope and thanksgiving by faith.
Prelude
Call to Worship
Hymn JBC # 618
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC #236
Offering
Scripture Luke 9:18～27
Prayer
Sermon “Prediction of Death and Resurrection”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 230
Doxology JBC # 676
Benediction
Postlude
I think it is a common belief among non-Christians that “Jesus Christ” is one of the greatest historical figures, or one of the most influential figures in history.
As such, Jesus Christ is generally considered to be only one of the great human beings. Jesus was one of the great human beings who taught people to love their neighbors (and practiced it himself) and healed many people of their illnesses.
In today's scripture passage, Jesus asked the disciples who were with him: “Who do the crowds say I am?”
The disciples replied. Some say “John the Baptist”; others say “Elijah”; and still others, “that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
John the Baptist was the one who also baptized Jesus. He was a then great religious leader who strongly encouraged people to turn to God (repent).
Elijah was one of the great prophets of the Old Testament era. Prophets were those who were entrusted with the word of God and were responsible for conveying it to the people.
“that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life”means that there were people who were saying “This man Jesus is doing such wonderful works that he must be a great prophet of old come back to life.
To be precise, "come back to life" would mean that he is like the second coming of such a great prophet.
I don't think the people who said it actually believed that the prophets who had died hundreds of years before Jesus actually came back to life.
But John the Baptist, as well as Elijah and other great prophets, they all were only human. They were not gods.
Like the general idea today, many people in Jesus' time too still thought that the man Jesus was great, but Jesus was only one man.
Then Jesus asked his disciples as follows.
“Who do you say I am?”(verse 20)
“I now know that people are saying things about me. So people are saying that I am one of the great but human beings. Then who do you say I am?” Jesus asked.
To this question, Peter answered. “God’s Messiah”. Messiah originally means ‘anointed (oil-poured) one’in Hebrew.
It is said to have originated from the special perfume oil that was poured on kings and priests in Israel when they were inaugurated, and eventually came to mean “God's savior”.
In New Testament times, that era in which Jesus lived, it was believed that the Messiah (God's Savior) who would soon come would deliver the people of Israel from the Roman Empire that ruled over them.
Thus, in Jesus' time, people were looking forward to the coming of the Savior as a political liberator (military leader).
When Peter replied, “You are the God’s Messiah,” Jesus admonished the disciples, commanding them not to tell anyone about it (v. 21).
Why did Jesus stop his disciples from making such a confession, confessing that “Jesus is the Messiah”?
Messiah was eventually translated into Greek as Christ, giving birth to the words of confession of faith, “Jesus Christ,” meaning “Jesus is the Christ (Savior).
The content of the saying “You are God’s Messiah” was not wrong. It was true. Jesus was without a doubt the true Messiah (Savior) sent from God.
However, in response to Peter's confession, Jesus commanded his disciples, “Do not tell anyone about it. Why?
This is because Peter and the other disciples did not yet understand what “Messiah” really meant and what Jesus was going to accomplish.
The disciples were expecting a great Messiah who would reestablish the nation of Israel and free their nation from the Roman Empire.
But Jesus did not come to be such a Messiah; in verse 22, Jesus said
“The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
Jesus spoke of what was about to befall Him, of being rejected by the people, of being killed on the cross, and then of His resurrection on the third day.
Jesus foretold His death and resurrection by saying that Christ would first be rejected by the people and killed, and then rise again.
Jesus said that He is the Messiah who truly liberates people (frees them from sin) in the sense that He, who is equal to God, saves people by offering His life.
Jesus was the Messiah as the One who leads people to true liberation through such a death, where he wholly takes the hatred, malice, and ridicule of people by himself, and then is killed in an unjust trial by men.
To truly liberate a person, Jesus said, he must first die.
Jesus foretold His death and resurrection in advance so that His disciples would be able to face the reality of the event when it actually occurred.
Who do we now confess Jesus Christ is? If Jesus asked you now “Who do you say I am?”, who would we answer?
Are we not believing in and confessing Christ based on the image of the Savior that we have willfully imagined and created for ourselves?
We always want to listen to the Bible and be led by the Holy Spirit to understand Jesus Christ as the Bible tells us He is, in His proper form.
We, too, wish to confess our faith, “You are God’s Messiah (Christ, the Savior).”
Let us believe that with all our hearts, and let us believe and rejoice that “this One has saved us from our deepest sins,” and let us continue to confess as such.
Jesus also went on to say: read verses 23-25.
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?
Jesus says to his disciples, and to us believers throughout the ages and now, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
What does it mean to “deny yourselves and take up your cross daily”? The word “cross” is usually thought of as a “burden” that each of us bears.
However, I believe that some of you have already carried enough “burdens” and are living under very hard and difficult circumstances.
All of us carry burdens in our lives. Does Jesus tell us to carry an even heavier burden, a cross in that sense, in order to follow Him?
To me, it seems very unlikely. When Jesus said, “take up your cross daily and follow me,” I think he meant that we should first know that Jesus first carried the heaviest cross for us.
That Jesus is walking with us even now. Therefore, I believe that Jesus is calling us to entrust the burdens of life given to each of us to Him and ask Him to carry them with us as we walk and live.
It is possible through faith to walk with Jesus, trusting in Him who is with us day by day (every day). Let us be convinced again today of the blessedness of living in Jesus' love and mercy.
Let’s listen to what Jesus said in verse 24 once more.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
We must understand what Jesus meant by these words, not literally but what it truly means. It does not mean that we would give our lives for Jesus.
Jesus does not need to be offered a life from us. Rather, Jesus laid down His life for the atonement of our sins.
When Jesus said, “lose your life for my sake,” he meant that we place Jesus at the center of our purpose in life.
It means that we do not put our own wishes and thoughts first, but live daily with the purpose of living God's will as revealed through Jesus.
We feel unsatisfied and dissatisfied when things do not go the way we wish or envision. We may even think that “my life has failed” when things do not turn out the way we hoped they would.
But if we place the purpose of our life in Jesus and turn our direction of life to Jesus Christ, then we will live true life.
By placing Christ in the center of our hearts and changing our direction to a life lived toward Him, our self-centeredness instead of God-centeredness will be corrected, and our lives will truly be saved.
We can receive true life by being freed (saved) from the sin of self-centeredness and the misery caused by that sin and redirected to a God-centered life filled with firmness and peace.
To receive such true life, let us live daily according to Christ, confessing Him as our Savior by both word and life.
Jesus bore the heaviest burden, the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, and died on that cross. Let us remember this daily and offer our hearts of gratitude and repentance to God.
Jesus is with us, bearing the burdens of our lives. With eyes of faith, let us recognize Jesus' presence with us, and let us walk in days of hope and thanksgiving by faith.
Friday, November 1, 2024
Sunday Worship Service November 3rd, 2024
Prelude
Call to Worship Jeremiah 17:7
Hymn JBC #339 The church’s one foundation
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 523 Jesus loves me!
Offering
Bible Puppet Show
Special Praise
Scripture 14:1～14
Prayer
Sermon “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 338 To worship, work, and witness
Doxology JBC #674
Benediction
Postlude
I think people need something believe in and live by. But what does it mean to believe in and live by something?
When a person lives by something, it means that the object of that belief is very important to them and is central to the guidelines and values that guide their life.
In other words it is an object toward which people live. What is the object that you live by?
Maybe it's some ideology, some belief, some other person that you respect, or maybe you think, “Honestly, for me it's money”. Money is a necessity for everyone, indeed.
Or perhaps you believe that the only thing you can believe in is yourself. Or, maybe you think “What do I believe in and live by? Nothing in particular. Simply being alive is all there is to life.”
For me, the object that I live according to is God. For me, as a Christian, God is One who has revealed Himself to man through the person of Jesus Christ.
But that does not mean that I always understand Christ my God and always live according to His ways.
Despite being a Christian and now a pastor and leader of a church, I am still a weak and flawed human being and am not always able to obey God.
In many cases, I am not sure what is really God's will or what He wants me to do.
Nevertheless, God to me is One who has revealed Himself to man through Jesus Christ, and I at least aim to live according to His ways.
Jesus Christ was crucified and killed on the cross about 2,000 years ago. Today, we usually cannot visibly see Christ nor can we audibly hear Him.
However, we can still learn about what Jesus Christ did and said through the Bible.
There are many different so-called“gods” in the world, but Christians believe that the One who revealed Himself through Jesus Christ is the one true God.
The phrase “revealed Himself through Jesus Christ” means that God Himself came into the world in the person of Jesus, a human being, and lived a human life exactly the same way as everyone else.
The Bible teaches us that very clearly. Even in the Bible passage we just read (the Gospel of John), Jesus spoke on the premise that He is equal to God.
At the beginning of today's passage, Jesus says the following.
You believe in God; believe also in me.
After saying, “Believe in God,” Jesus followed up by saying, “Believe also in Me.” Jesus was saying, “Believe in Me as you believe in God,”so in other words, He was declaring Himself to be equal to God.
Then, Philip, one of Jesus' disciples, says the following.
“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”(Verse 8)
“Show us the Father” means “show us God the Father.”
I think we can all understand what Philip is trying to say. People often say, “If I see with my eyes, if you show me some evidence, I will believe in God.”
We usually think that if we can see with our own eyes, and if the evidence is convincing enough, then we will believe.
Jesus responded to Philip as follows.
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (verse 9)
And Jesus continues in verse 10.
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Jesus is saying that He is in God the Father, and God the Father is also in Him.
This may be difficult or even impossible to understand or believe when you hear it for the first time.
What Jesus is trying to say with the statement is that“God the Father and Jesus are one and the same and that Jesus IS God.
And the Bible tells us that the God who revealed Himself through Jesus Christ is the one true God.
I know this is one of the reasons Christianity is not popular. There may be some Christians out there who say “Christianity is narrow-minded because it claims there is only one God.”
However, as a pastor entrusted with the Word of God, I cannot dilute or compromise that point (that there is only one God, Jesus Christ).
In verse 6 of today's passage, Jesus says the following words, which are coincidentally also the title of today's sermon.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus never said, “I am a way, a truth, and a life (implying that there is another way to God, another truth, and another life besides Jesus).”
As long as you are going in the right general direction, no matter which road you take or which mode of transportation you use, if the destination and direction are correct, you will arrive at your destination.
If you are on the wrong road, you will not arrive at the destination you want. But Jesus asserted that He is the very road to God the Father (there is no other road).
If a mere human being had made such a claim, there would not be such more self-righteous and extraordinary.
So, we, as we hear Jesus’s claim, are presented with the choice of rejecting outright or believing Jesus' assertion that “He is the only way to God the Father, and He is equal to God.”
What kind of God would go to such lengths to self-righteously assert His uniqueness and urge us to follow Him?
In short, God is love. The Bible says exactly that. In 1 John 4:16, it says, “God is love.” I would love to read the verses before and after together if we had time, but I encourage everyone to pick up a Bible and read it for themselves.
“God is love” means ”You are important to God.” God loves you and you are important to Him.
In the beginning, I said, “For me, the object that I live according to is God (Jesus Christ).
Upon hearing that, you may think that God is like a master or manager who simply bosses around human beings.
No, it is not so. God, through Jesus Christ, through His actions and words, is the One who speaks to us the words, “You are precious and loved.”
And when we know that we are loved by and are precious to God, we begin to desire to follow Him.
And when we know that God loves us, we are able to love (care for) ourselves and others. At the very least, one will desire to love others. (I’d be worried if you don’t)
I would like to urge you all to be open to the possibility that there is such a God, Jesus Christ, who loves us and urges us to love ourselves and others as well.
Lastly, I would like to read a message that one of our members from this church who passed away six years ago, realizing that she was going to die, wrote to the church members shortly before her passing.
Sometimes I still look back at this little note, a sure sign that this believer truly believed in the loving God, lived in His peace, and ended her earthly walk in peace.
“I am grateful for the joy and peace that fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ has brought to my life. I have lived a very happy life. I now go to our Lord Jesus in the embrace of the Holy Spirit (*the Spirit of God). Please pray for me as I pray for everyone's happiness. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.”
There is another message by the same person that I will read as well.
“Dear Pastor, thank you very much for all you've done for me during my lifetime. Please pray that I don't let go of Jesus' hand.”
May all of us here today meet the Lord Jesus Christ. May the love and peace of the one true God fill each and other single one of us here today.
Prelude
Call to Worship Jeremiah 17:7
Hymn JBC #339 The church’s one foundation
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 523 Jesus loves me!
Offering
Bible Puppet Show
Special Praise
Scripture 14:1～14
Prayer
Sermon “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 338 To worship, work, and witness
Doxology JBC #674
Benediction
Postlude
I think people need something believe in and live by. But what does it mean to believe in and live by something?
When a person lives by something, it means that the object of that belief is very important to them and is central to the guidelines and values that guide their life.
In other words it is an object toward which people live. What is the object that you live by?
Maybe it's some ideology, some belief, some other person that you respect, or maybe you think, “Honestly, for me it's money”. Money is a necessity for everyone, indeed.
Or perhaps you believe that the only thing you can believe in is yourself. Or, maybe you think “What do I believe in and live by? Nothing in particular. Simply being alive is all there is to life.”
For me, the object that I live according to is God. For me, as a Christian, God is One who has revealed Himself to man through the person of Jesus Christ.
But that does not mean that I always understand Christ my God and always live according to His ways.
Despite being a Christian and now a pastor and leader of a church, I am still a weak and flawed human being and am not always able to obey God.
In many cases, I am not sure what is really God's will or what He wants me to do.
Nevertheless, God to me is One who has revealed Himself to man through Jesus Christ, and I at least aim to live according to His ways.
Jesus Christ was crucified and killed on the cross about 2,000 years ago. Today, we usually cannot visibly see Christ nor can we audibly hear Him.
However, we can still learn about what Jesus Christ did and said through the Bible.
There are many different so-called“gods” in the world, but Christians believe that the One who revealed Himself through Jesus Christ is the one true God.
The phrase “revealed Himself through Jesus Christ” means that God Himself came into the world in the person of Jesus, a human being, and lived a human life exactly the same way as everyone else.
The Bible teaches us that very clearly. Even in the Bible passage we just read (the Gospel of John), Jesus spoke on the premise that He is equal to God.
At the beginning of today's passage, Jesus says the following.
You believe in God; believe also in me.
After saying, “Believe in God,” Jesus followed up by saying, “Believe also in Me.” Jesus was saying, “Believe in Me as you believe in God,”so in other words, He was declaring Himself to be equal to God.
Then, Philip, one of Jesus' disciples, says the following.
“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”(Verse 8)
“Show us the Father” means “show us God the Father.”
I think we can all understand what Philip is trying to say. People often say, “If I see with my eyes, if you show me some evidence, I will believe in God.”
We usually think that if we can see with our own eyes, and if the evidence is convincing enough, then we will believe.
Jesus responded to Philip as follows.
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father (verse 9)
And Jesus continues in verse 10.
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
Jesus is saying that He is in God the Father, and God the Father is also in Him.
This may be difficult or even impossible to understand or believe when you hear it for the first time.
What Jesus is trying to say with the statement is that“God the Father and Jesus are one and the same and that Jesus IS God.
And the Bible tells us that the God who revealed Himself through Jesus Christ is the one true God.
I know this is one of the reasons Christianity is not popular. There may be some Christians out there who say “Christianity is narrow-minded because it claims there is only one God.”
However, as a pastor entrusted with the Word of God, I cannot dilute or compromise that point (that there is only one God, Jesus Christ).
In verse 6 of today's passage, Jesus says the following words, which are coincidentally also the title of today's sermon.
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus never said, “I am a way, a truth, and a life (implying that there is another way to God, another truth, and another life besides Jesus).”
As long as you are going in the right general direction, no matter which road you take or which mode of transportation you use, if the destination and direction are correct, you will arrive at your destination.
If you are on the wrong road, you will not arrive at the destination you want. But Jesus asserted that He is the very road to God the Father (there is no other road).
If a mere human being had made such a claim, there would not be such more self-righteous and extraordinary.
So, we, as we hear Jesus’s claim, are presented with the choice of rejecting outright or believing Jesus' assertion that “He is the only way to God the Father, and He is equal to God.”
What kind of God would go to such lengths to self-righteously assert His uniqueness and urge us to follow Him?
In short, God is love. The Bible says exactly that. In 1 John 4:16, it says, “God is love.” I would love to read the verses before and after together if we had time, but I encourage everyone to pick up a Bible and read it for themselves.
“God is love” means ”You are important to God.” God loves you and you are important to Him.
In the beginning, I said, “For me, the object that I live according to is God (Jesus Christ).
Upon hearing that, you may think that God is like a master or manager who simply bosses around human beings.
No, it is not so. God, through Jesus Christ, through His actions and words, is the One who speaks to us the words, “You are precious and loved.”
And when we know that we are loved by and are precious to God, we begin to desire to follow Him.
And when we know that God loves us, we are able to love (care for) ourselves and others. At the very least, one will desire to love others. (I’d be worried if you don’t)
I would like to urge you all to be open to the possibility that there is such a God, Jesus Christ, who loves us and urges us to love ourselves and others as well.
Lastly, I would like to read a message that one of our members from this church who passed away six years ago, realizing that she was going to die, wrote to the church members shortly before her passing.
Sometimes I still look back at this little note, a sure sign that this believer truly believed in the loving God, lived in His peace, and ended her earthly walk in peace.
“I am grateful for the joy and peace that fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ has brought to my life. I have lived a very happy life. I now go to our Lord Jesus in the embrace of the Holy Spirit (*the Spirit of God). Please pray for me as I pray for everyone's happiness. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.”
There is another message by the same person that I will read as well.
“Dear Pastor, thank you very much for all you've done for me during my lifetime. Please pray that I don't let go of Jesus' hand.”
May all of us here today meet the Lord Jesus Christ. May the love and peace of the one true God fill each and other single one of us here today.
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Friday, October 25, 2024
Sunday Worship Service October 27, 2024
Prelude
Call to Worship Psalm 107:9
Hymn JBC # 124 This is my Father’s world
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Supper
Hymn JBC # 213 Tell me the story of Jesus
Offering
Scripture Mark 6:30～44
Prayer
Sermon “They all ate and were satisfied”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 21 Worthy of worship
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude
Today’s Bible passage shows Jesus’ disciples returning to Jesus’s side after completing their work.
It says that the Disciples report to Jesus all about everything they had done and taught to people that day.
These were the 12 immediate disciples of Jesus, who are called “the Apostles”.
In Mark chapter 6 verse 7 and onwards, the section before today’s passage, it talks about how Jesus sent them out to do works.
The work Jesus had sent the Apostles out to do was to tell others about the Kingdom of God, to teach, and to drive out demons, heal the sick, and more.
The Apostles were chosen by Jesus to become disciples, to receive power from Him and then to go out to many places and do works including to proclaim the gospel, heal sickness, and drive out demons.
Jesus hoped that through such work of the Apostles, people would come to know God’s Kingdom (the Gospel).
Listening to the Apostles (Jesus’ direct disciples), we might get the impression that they were exceptional people, different from us.
Certainly, the Apostles were chosen by Jesus, lived alongside Him and worked with Jesus in sharing the gospel, so we can say that they were special.
But, when we think about “being chosen by Jesus” and “receiving power from and being sent out by Jesus”, we as Christians living now are the same.
We have been chosen by Jesus and led to the Church. We have been chosen by Jesus, and been led to profess that Jesus is Lord.
I hope that as Christians, we recognize and are thankful for the honor of being chosen only by God’s Grace, and that we walk humbly in faith.
The Apostles each finished their work and returned to Jesus. They reported to Jesus all that they had done and taught.
When I think about this scene, what came to mind was us as Christians in the worship service, having been sent out to our daily lives, to do our works, then coming back to Jesus in worship.
For Christians, we come to this place of worship and meet Jesus, listen to Jesus’ Word, receive power from Jesus, and are sent out to our various works and everyday lives.
With gifts God has given each of us, we carry the Gospel (the Good News) with us as we are sent out from here each week.
And, just as the Apostles reported on all that they had done to Jesus, it could be said that we also look back on our lives and works during the past week, and tell Jesus about it here in this place of worship.
We can tell him things like “Over the past week, I did this. And this happened. This went well, but I also made some mistakes.” We can tell Jesus anything.
There would be some people here who do this every day at the end of the day in their prayer time to God.
When we tell Jesus all about what we have done, I imagine that he is looking on us with a gentle gaze, listening quietly to all that we have to tell Him.
In today’s passage, after Jesus had listened to the report from his disciples, he said this:
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”(v.31)
Today’s passage shows us that they were surrounded by a great crowd of people (people wanting Jesus and the disciples to teach them and heal them), and they were so busy they didn’t even have time to eat a meal.
Just like in this passage, what Jesus gives to us is rest. Rest for our hearts and bodies, rest for our minds and souls in God’s love. This is the true rest that Jesus gives to us.
We receive this blessing of true rest from Jesus firstly through our worship.
We receive this true rest for our body and soul from worshipping God, and then we are sent out from this place to our daily lives.
The passage says that Jesus and the Apostles boarded a boat and tried to go to a remote location, however, the crowd of people realized this and went ahead, arriving there before Jesus and the Apostles.
This was how much many people needed God’s healing. Everyone needed God’s blessing, and when Jesus saw this crowd, he felt great compassion.
Feeling compassion is not just feeling a sense of pity. Jesus feeling compassion for the crowd of people can be taken as meaning that he felt the pain, sadness and suffering that surrounded each of those people as if it were His own.
Jesus, as God who became man, is able to take our pain, suffering and sadness as if it were his own, just as he did for the crowd.
I hope that knowing that the God who can do these things is with us as our God brings us joy and thankfulness.
The passage says that Jesus had great compassion on them and began to teach them “many things”. At that time, Jesus was teaching them His words (the Word of God).
It says that Jesus looked upon them and saw that they were “like sheep without a shepherd” and had compassion on them.
A “sheep without a shepherd” has no one to give them directions in life, so they don’t know where to go or what to do, but just wander aimlessly.
So that these sheep without a shepherd could be shown a clear way of living and direction, Jesus taught the crowd God’s Word unstintingly.
God’s Word supports us throughout our lives, and forms our guiding principles. This year, our church theme is Standing on the Word of the Lord. Let us always hold the Word of God as our guide, as we continue to walk this path of faith.
Jesus continued to teach the people, but it was taking a long time, and the disciples said this to Jesus:
“This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Jesus responded “You give them something to eat”.
The disciples said “Are we to go and spend that much (*two hundred denarii) on bread and give it to them to eat?”(verse 37). They must have thought “There’s no way we can do that.”
As an easy example for the present time, two hundred denarii would be about 2 million yen. The passage shows that just counting the men there were 5,000 people, and adding the women and children would make it about two or three times that number.
When we are faced with a difficult challenge, we use our experience or common sense to decide if we think something is possible or impossible.
Here and now, if we thought about spending two hundred denarii on bread and giving it to these people to eat, we wouldn’t even need to think about it, common sense says it’s impossible. (the common sense says such money is not available).
However, believers in God rely not on the world’s common sense (to begin with it is not as though common sense is always right), but on God’s word, living in faith and the hope that “If it is Your will, it will happen”.
What did Jesus do in today’s passage? Jesus asked his disciples to check what bread they already had.
The disciples checked, and found there were five loaves of bread and two fish. To the eyes of the people, there was no way this amount could feed this great crowd.
But Jesus saw things differently. Jesus saw these five loaves and two fish, and to Him, they were enough.
Jesus took the bread and the fish in His hands, look up to the Heavens and spoke a prayer of praise, then broke the bread and multiplied the fish and gave them to His disciples.
The disciples made it sure that this bread and fish would be handed to all the people who were gathered there. All the people there sitting in groups of fifty or a hundred ate, and all were full.
This is an amazing miracle. Yet, that great crowd was five thousand people counting just then men, and adding their families makes it about ten thousand or twenty thousand people.
In such a large crowd, many among them may not have realized that the bread and fish that they ate had been multiplied by Jesus’ prayer and blessing.
It may be that it was only the Apostles who and others who were close by would have known that it was really Jesus who had multiplied the food through a prayer of praise, and that it was originally only five loaves and two fish.
When we imagine this, we might think that we also often accept the many blessings we receive (blessings from God) without realizing that they are indeed God’s blessings.
The world around us is filled with God’s blessings, but isn’t it often the case that fail to realize that Jesus is blessing us abundantly and take these blessings for granted?
Let us open the eyes of our faith and consider the blessings that God is pouring out on us every day, even in this very moment.
If we believe this, these blessings from God become our own. Then, it is God’s hope that these blessings do not stop with just us, but flow through each of us and are passed on to others.
Let us go forward as believers and a church that is aware of God’s blessings that Jesus gives us, sharing these blessings with each other, and passing these blessings on to our neighbors and others abundantly.
Prelude
Call to Worship Psalm 107:9
Hymn JBC # 124 This is my Father’s world
The Lord’s Prayer
The Lord’s Supper
Hymn JBC # 213 Tell me the story of Jesus
Offering
Scripture Mark 6:30～44
Prayer
Sermon “They all ate and were satisfied”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 21 Worthy of worship
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude
Today’s Bible passage shows Jesus’ disciples returning to Jesus’s side after completing their work.
It says that the Disciples report to Jesus all about everything they had done and taught to people that day.
These were the 12 immediate disciples of Jesus, who are called “the Apostles”.
In Mark chapter 6 verse 7 and onwards, the section before today’s passage, it talks about how Jesus sent them out to do works.
The work Jesus had sent the Apostles out to do was to tell others about the Kingdom of God, to teach, and to drive out demons, heal the sick, and more.
The Apostles were chosen by Jesus to become disciples, to receive power from Him and then to go out to many places and do works including to proclaim the gospel, heal sickness, and drive out demons.
Jesus hoped that through such work of the Apostles, people would come to know God’s Kingdom (the Gospel).
Listening to the Apostles (Jesus’ direct disciples), we might get the impression that they were exceptional people, different from us.
Certainly, the Apostles were chosen by Jesus, lived alongside Him and worked with Jesus in sharing the gospel, so we can say that they were special.
But, when we think about “being chosen by Jesus” and “receiving power from and being sent out by Jesus”, we as Christians living now are the same.
We have been chosen by Jesus and led to the Church. We have been chosen by Jesus, and been led to profess that Jesus is Lord.
I hope that as Christians, we recognize and are thankful for the honor of being chosen only by God’s Grace, and that we walk humbly in faith.
The Apostles each finished their work and returned to Jesus. They reported to Jesus all that they had done and taught.
When I think about this scene, what came to mind was us as Christians in the worship service, having been sent out to our daily lives, to do our works, then coming back to Jesus in worship.
For Christians, we come to this place of worship and meet Jesus, listen to Jesus’ Word, receive power from Jesus, and are sent out to our various works and everyday lives.
With gifts God has given each of us, we carry the Gospel (the Good News) with us as we are sent out from here each week.
And, just as the Apostles reported on all that they had done to Jesus, it could be said that we also look back on our lives and works during the past week, and tell Jesus about it here in this place of worship.
We can tell him things like “Over the past week, I did this. And this happened. This went well, but I also made some mistakes.” We can tell Jesus anything.
There would be some people here who do this every day at the end of the day in their prayer time to God.
When we tell Jesus all about what we have done, I imagine that he is looking on us with a gentle gaze, listening quietly to all that we have to tell Him.
In today’s passage, after Jesus had listened to the report from his disciples, he said this:
“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”(v.31)
Today’s passage shows us that they were surrounded by a great crowd of people (people wanting Jesus and the disciples to teach them and heal them), and they were so busy they didn’t even have time to eat a meal.
Just like in this passage, what Jesus gives to us is rest. Rest for our hearts and bodies, rest for our minds and souls in God’s love. This is the true rest that Jesus gives to us.
We receive this blessing of true rest from Jesus firstly through our worship.
We receive this true rest for our body and soul from worshipping God, and then we are sent out from this place to our daily lives.
The passage says that Jesus and the Apostles boarded a boat and tried to go to a remote location, however, the crowd of people realized this and went ahead, arriving there before Jesus and the Apostles.
This was how much many people needed God’s healing. Everyone needed God’s blessing, and when Jesus saw this crowd, he felt great compassion.
Feeling compassion is not just feeling a sense of pity. Jesus feeling compassion for the crowd of people can be taken as meaning that he felt the pain, sadness and suffering that surrounded each of those people as if it were His own.
Jesus, as God who became man, is able to take our pain, suffering and sadness as if it were his own, just as he did for the crowd.
I hope that knowing that the God who can do these things is with us as our God brings us joy and thankfulness.
The passage says that Jesus had great compassion on them and began to teach them “many things”. At that time, Jesus was teaching them His words (the Word of God).
It says that Jesus looked upon them and saw that they were “like sheep without a shepherd” and had compassion on them.
A “sheep without a shepherd” has no one to give them directions in life, so they don’t know where to go or what to do, but just wander aimlessly.
So that these sheep without a shepherd could be shown a clear way of living and direction, Jesus taught the crowd God’s Word unstintingly.
God’s Word supports us throughout our lives, and forms our guiding principles. This year, our church theme is Standing on the Word of the Lord. Let us always hold the Word of God as our guide, as we continue to walk this path of faith.
Jesus continued to teach the people, but it was taking a long time, and the disciples said this to Jesus:
“This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late. 36 Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
Jesus responded “You give them something to eat”.
The disciples said “Are we to go and spend that much (*two hundred denarii) on bread and give it to them to eat?”(verse 37). They must have thought “There’s no way we can do that.”
As an easy example for the present time, two hundred denarii would be about 2 million yen. The passage shows that just counting the men there were 5,000 people, and adding the women and children would make it about two or three times that number.
When we are faced with a difficult challenge, we use our experience or common sense to decide if we think something is possible or impossible.
Here and now, if we thought about spending two hundred denarii on bread and giving it to these people to eat, we wouldn’t even need to think about it, common sense says it’s impossible. (the common sense says such money is not available).
However, believers in God rely not on the world’s common sense (to begin with it is not as though common sense is always right), but on God’s word, living in faith and the hope that “If it is Your will, it will happen”.
What did Jesus do in today’s passage? Jesus asked his disciples to check what bread they already had.
The disciples checked, and found there were five loaves of bread and two fish. To the eyes of the people, there was no way this amount could feed this great crowd.
But Jesus saw things differently. Jesus saw these five loaves and two fish, and to Him, they were enough.
Jesus took the bread and the fish in His hands, look up to the Heavens and spoke a prayer of praise, then broke the bread and multiplied the fish and gave them to His disciples.
The disciples made it sure that this bread and fish would be handed to all the people who were gathered there. All the people there sitting in groups of fifty or a hundred ate, and all were full.
This is an amazing miracle. Yet, that great crowd was five thousand people counting just then men, and adding their families makes it about ten thousand or twenty thousand people.
In such a large crowd, many among them may not have realized that the bread and fish that they ate had been multiplied by Jesus’ prayer and blessing.
It may be that it was only the Apostles who and others who were close by would have known that it was really Jesus who had multiplied the food through a prayer of praise, and that it was originally only five loaves and two fish.
When we imagine this, we might think that we also often accept the many blessings we receive (blessings from God) without realizing that they are indeed God’s blessings.
The world around us is filled with God’s blessings, but isn’t it often the case that fail to realize that Jesus is blessing us abundantly and take these blessings for granted?
Let us open the eyes of our faith and consider the blessings that God is pouring out on us every day, even in this very moment.
If we believe this, these blessings from God become our own. Then, it is God’s hope that these blessings do not stop with just us, but flow through each of us and are passed on to others.
Let us go forward as believers and a church that is aware of God’s blessings that Jesus gives us, sharing these blessings with each other, and passing these blessings on to our neighbors and others abundantly.
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Sunday Worship Service October 20, 2024
Prelude
Call to Worship Isaiah 25:6
Hymn JBC # 26 We praise You, O God, our Redeemer
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 213 Tell me the story of Jesus
Testimonies
Offering
Scripture Luke 14:15～24
Prayer
Sermon “The parable of the great banquet”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 521 I’d rather have Jesus
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude
Today’s bible passage is Luke 14:15-24, and in the New Interconfessional Translation Bible (Japanese) it has the heading:“the Parable of the Great Banquet.”
A similar story to this is written in Matthew 22:1-20. In Matthew it mentions that the banquet was a wedding feast a king was holding for the prince.
In Matthew it mentions that those who were invited to the wedding ignored the invitations, and some cruel people seized the king’s messenger who brought the invitation, beat them, and killed them.
A common point between what is written in Matthew vs. Luke is that the banquet (or wedding feast) was prepared by the host (or king). Another point is that the people invited refused the invitation.
In each of the passages in Matthew and Luke, what exactly are the people who refuse the invitations to the banquet (or wedding feast) meant to portray? Let’s listen to what God has to say to us through this passage.
In verse 15 it states that someone says to Jesus,“blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
At this time, it seems that Jesus and His disciples were invited to share a meal with someone. (In chapter 14 verse 1 we see that Jesus went to the home of a prominent Pharisee to eat)
There, one of the guests says, “how wonderful it must be to eat a meal in the Kingdom of the God, where we will be allowed to enter.”
This guest may have been imagining that, while the current feast they were enjoying was fun, how much more amazing must a feast in the Kingdom of God be.
In verse 15 we can see that it says, “when he heard this he said that….”
“This”of“when he heard this” refers to Jesus’s sayings written in verses 7-14 before today’s passage.
Jesus says there“when you are invited to a wedding, you should not seek the places of honor, rather you should take the lowest place”thus teaching them the importance of keeping a humble attitude of faith.
This, of course, is not just a surface level action. This is an important lesson from God to us that, as those whose sins are forgiven, with thanksgiving we are to have humility and serve others.
Then Jesus says, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid,” (verse 12).
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay it” (verses 13-14).
In other words, if you are blessed enough that you can host a banquet, invite those who are unable to repay the favor to you.
In other words, when you do something for someone else, do not expect anything in return.
When we ask someone to do something for us, do we not also think that we must give something suitable in return as thanks?
There are times when this comes from goodwill and courtesy. However, are there also not times when we think that we do not want to be indebted to someone and feel as though we must give in return to avoid that?
Therefore, God is telling us in this passage that if we invite someone to a banquet, do not expect anything in return.
In other words, I think this telling us to be free from the idea of “give and take”.
This means that we are originally to live together and support one another. We are all unable to live without being supported by others and most of all we can’t live if not supported by the Lord our God.
I hope we can remember that we are not to live by normal “give and take”, but rather we always owe each other “gives” and “takes” in a sense that we are to support (live) with each other.
And the bible teaches us that the banquet that God is preparing for us (that includes a fellowship in the Kingdom of God, and the joy we are given in faith) is a truly great and wonderful thing.
God’s Kingdom where He allows us to enter is so wonderful that there is no way for us to give something suitable in return.
The reason we are able to know God, believe in God, and are allowed to enter His Kingdom, is because Jesus gave His life on the cross for us.
Jesus paid all the price for our salvation. Let us remember that this cost, which we could not have paid ourselves, was paid for by Jesus Christ.
We have been given an invitation to God’s Kingdom. However, in today’s passage we see that the guests who were invited to the banquet turn down the invitation when the banquet begins.
At the time, the Jews apparently had the custom of telling the guests about the coming banquet ahead of time, but the specific time and date would not be told until just before it began.
I felt that this was a rather sloppy custom. This may be because we are so used to having our lifestyles revolve around specific schedules.
The person who had prepared the banquet waited for the guests he invited to come. However, for various reasons, the people invited declined to attend the banquet.
One person said that he had just bought a field and needed to go see it. Another said that he had just bought five yoke of oxen and he needed to go inspect them.
Another said that he had just gotten married, so he couldn’t attend. Everyone had some sort of reason why they could not attend.
Why did these people decline to attend this great banquet? It is because they prioritized things that affected their own lifestyle or finances.
So does that mean that this passage is teaching us that it is foolish to prioritize our own affairs over the fellowship of the Kingdom of God and refusing the invitation to enter the Kingdom of God?
I believe that the main lesson to be learned from this passage is precisely that. When we center our lives around our own thoughts and plans, we lose sight of how great and wonderful the Kingdom of God is.
Another thing we can understand is that we view the invitation to the Kingdom of God as an obligation.
In reality, the invitation to the Kingdom of God is a great gift given freely. That is pure grace and a joy to us.
However, I believe today’s passage also shows us that we see God’s calling to the banquet as an obligation (burden) that must be fulfilled.
In today’s passage, the third person refused the invitation saying that he couldn’t go because he just got married.
In the Old Testament in ‘Deuteronomy’ 24:5 it says the following:
If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.
This means that if a person gets married, they are exempt from military and other official duties for one year to prioritize their marriage life.
However, if someone is to use this situation (being a newlywed) as a reason not to attend the banquet of the Kingdom of God, that means that that person is thinking of attending the banquet of the Kingdom of God as being military service or an official duty.
The banquet of the Kingdom of God will have its perfect form when we are called to heaven and Jesus Christ has returned.
However, the signs of the banquet of the Kingdom of God have already begun in our lives on this Earth.
Jesus came to this world as a man, died on the cross and paid for our sins.
Through this, our sins were forgiven, and since we have become able to return before God, His Kingdom has begun appearing on this Earth.
Through our fellowship with Jesus Christ, through our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ at church as His body, and through worshipping Christ our Lord, we experience at least a foretaste of the banquet of the Kingdom of God.
But we feel that this wonderful grace (worship), which is equivalent to a banquet in the Kingdom of God, is something like “a duty that we have to fulfill reluctantly,” then something is wrong.
If we find worship or attending other church gatherings to be troublesome (if you find yourself unmotivated to participate), then we must say that something is wrong there.
It may not be that that person is mistaken. It could be that the church itself, or the spiritual leader of the church, the pastor, has some spiritual or attitude problem.
However, this does not change the reality that the Lord, our God through the grace of Jesus Christ, is inviting us to His wonderful banquet.
This should be a great joy. If you find yourself unable to find joy in being invited to God’s Kingdom, then let us return together to the gospel of Christ and the message of the bible that teaches us that Jesus is with us.
Let us also trust that our faith in Jesus Christ, and our worship to Christ, which is a foundation of our faith, along with the fellowship of the church, are foretastes of the perfection that is to come in the great banquet of the Kingdom of God.
We have already received the invitation to the banquet of the Kingdom of God. There is no need to give anything in return (in fact we cannot give anything in return). Let us remember the joy of being invited to the banquet in the Kingdom of God and walk in faith of gratitude and hope.
Prelude
Call to Worship Isaiah 25:6
Hymn JBC # 26 We praise You, O God, our Redeemer
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 213 Tell me the story of Jesus
Testimonies
Offering
Scripture Luke 14:15～24
Prayer
Sermon “The parable of the great banquet”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 521 I’d rather have Jesus
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude
Today’s bible passage is Luke 14:15-24, and in the New Interconfessional Translation Bible (Japanese) it has the heading:“the Parable of the Great Banquet.”
A similar story to this is written in Matthew 22:1-20. In Matthew it mentions that the banquet was a wedding feast a king was holding for the prince.
In Matthew it mentions that those who were invited to the wedding ignored the invitations, and some cruel people seized the king’s messenger who brought the invitation, beat them, and killed them.
A common point between what is written in Matthew vs. Luke is that the banquet (or wedding feast) was prepared by the host (or king). Another point is that the people invited refused the invitation.
In each of the passages in Matthew and Luke, what exactly are the people who refuse the invitations to the banquet (or wedding feast) meant to portray? Let’s listen to what God has to say to us through this passage.
In verse 15 it states that someone says to Jesus,“blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
At this time, it seems that Jesus and His disciples were invited to share a meal with someone. (In chapter 14 verse 1 we see that Jesus went to the home of a prominent Pharisee to eat)
There, one of the guests says, “how wonderful it must be to eat a meal in the Kingdom of the God, where we will be allowed to enter.”
This guest may have been imagining that, while the current feast they were enjoying was fun, how much more amazing must a feast in the Kingdom of God be.
In verse 15 we can see that it says, “when he heard this he said that….”
“This”of“when he heard this” refers to Jesus’s sayings written in verses 7-14 before today’s passage.
Jesus says there“when you are invited to a wedding, you should not seek the places of honor, rather you should take the lowest place”thus teaching them the importance of keeping a humble attitude of faith.
This, of course, is not just a surface level action. This is an important lesson from God to us that, as those whose sins are forgiven, with thanksgiving we are to have humility and serve others.
Then Jesus says, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid,” (verse 12).
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay it” (verses 13-14).
In other words, if you are blessed enough that you can host a banquet, invite those who are unable to repay the favor to you.
In other words, when you do something for someone else, do not expect anything in return.
When we ask someone to do something for us, do we not also think that we must give something suitable in return as thanks?
There are times when this comes from goodwill and courtesy. However, are there also not times when we think that we do not want to be indebted to someone and feel as though we must give in return to avoid that?
Therefore, God is telling us in this passage that if we invite someone to a banquet, do not expect anything in return.
In other words, I think this telling us to be free from the idea of “give and take”.
This means that we are originally to live together and support one another. We are all unable to live without being supported by others and most of all we can’t live if not supported by the Lord our God.
I hope we can remember that we are not to live by normal “give and take”, but rather we always owe each other “gives” and “takes” in a sense that we are to support (live) with each other.
And the bible teaches us that the banquet that God is preparing for us (that includes a fellowship in the Kingdom of God, and the joy we are given in faith) is a truly great and wonderful thing.
God’s Kingdom where He allows us to enter is so wonderful that there is no way for us to give something suitable in return.
The reason we are able to know God, believe in God, and are allowed to enter His Kingdom, is because Jesus gave His life on the cross for us.
Jesus paid all the price for our salvation. Let us remember that this cost, which we could not have paid ourselves, was paid for by Jesus Christ.
We have been given an invitation to God’s Kingdom. However, in today’s passage we see that the guests who were invited to the banquet turn down the invitation when the banquet begins.
At the time, the Jews apparently had the custom of telling the guests about the coming banquet ahead of time, but the specific time and date would not be told until just before it began.
I felt that this was a rather sloppy custom. This may be because we are so used to having our lifestyles revolve around specific schedules.
The person who had prepared the banquet waited for the guests he invited to come. However, for various reasons, the people invited declined to attend the banquet.
One person said that he had just bought a field and needed to go see it. Another said that he had just bought five yoke of oxen and he needed to go inspect them.
Another said that he had just gotten married, so he couldn’t attend. Everyone had some sort of reason why they could not attend.
Why did these people decline to attend this great banquet? It is because they prioritized things that affected their own lifestyle or finances.
So does that mean that this passage is teaching us that it is foolish to prioritize our own affairs over the fellowship of the Kingdom of God and refusing the invitation to enter the Kingdom of God?
I believe that the main lesson to be learned from this passage is precisely that. When we center our lives around our own thoughts and plans, we lose sight of how great and wonderful the Kingdom of God is.
Another thing we can understand is that we view the invitation to the Kingdom of God as an obligation.
In reality, the invitation to the Kingdom of God is a great gift given freely. That is pure grace and a joy to us.
However, I believe today’s passage also shows us that we see God’s calling to the banquet as an obligation (burden) that must be fulfilled.
In today’s passage, the third person refused the invitation saying that he couldn’t go because he just got married.
In the Old Testament in ‘Deuteronomy’ 24:5 it says the following:
If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.
This means that if a person gets married, they are exempt from military and other official duties for one year to prioritize their marriage life.
However, if someone is to use this situation (being a newlywed) as a reason not to attend the banquet of the Kingdom of God, that means that that person is thinking of attending the banquet of the Kingdom of God as being military service or an official duty.
The banquet of the Kingdom of God will have its perfect form when we are called to heaven and Jesus Christ has returned.
However, the signs of the banquet of the Kingdom of God have already begun in our lives on this Earth.
Jesus came to this world as a man, died on the cross and paid for our sins.
Through this, our sins were forgiven, and since we have become able to return before God, His Kingdom has begun appearing on this Earth.
Through our fellowship with Jesus Christ, through our fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ at church as His body, and through worshipping Christ our Lord, we experience at least a foretaste of the banquet of the Kingdom of God.
But we feel that this wonderful grace (worship), which is equivalent to a banquet in the Kingdom of God, is something like “a duty that we have to fulfill reluctantly,” then something is wrong.
If we find worship or attending other church gatherings to be troublesome (if you find yourself unmotivated to participate), then we must say that something is wrong there.
It may not be that that person is mistaken. It could be that the church itself, or the spiritual leader of the church, the pastor, has some spiritual or attitude problem.
However, this does not change the reality that the Lord, our God through the grace of Jesus Christ, is inviting us to His wonderful banquet.
This should be a great joy. If you find yourself unable to find joy in being invited to God’s Kingdom, then let us return together to the gospel of Christ and the message of the bible that teaches us that Jesus is with us.
Let us also trust that our faith in Jesus Christ, and our worship to Christ, which is a foundation of our faith, along with the fellowship of the church, are foretastes of the perfection that is to come in the great banquet of the Kingdom of God.
We have already received the invitation to the banquet of the Kingdom of God. There is no need to give anything in return (in fact we cannot give anything in return). Let us remember the joy of being invited to the banquet in the Kingdom of God and walk in faith of gratitude and hope.
Saturday, October 12, 2024
October 13, 2024 Sunday Worship Services
Prelude
Call to Worship Zechariah 1:3
Hymn JBC # 651 Saviour, Thy dying love
The Lord's Prayer
Hymn JBC # 213 Tell me the story of Jesus
Offering
Scripture Luke 15:11~24
Prayer
Sermon "From the parable of the prodigal son"
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 550 Dying with Jesus
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude
*There is no sermon text uploaded today.
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